Do you guys workout?

[Twigsnapper]

Hey Zeo. Sometimes going that far does have its negative effects. At this point in my life, I am not going to be looking for an unbelievable body. I am more focusing on health. My muscle mass actually isn't hurt that much from it. I am still trying to lose about another 20 pounds. I don't want to do a cut/bulk cycle which I think hurts more than helps. I'd rather have the slow calorie deficit while maintaining high protein intake. Every body is a bit different but I used to train to the likes of how you had it down but other outside factors do come into play.

I'm big on calisthenics and believe they are more important than actual weights for a stable foundation

 

[Zeonix]

Before we can determine we're going "that far", we need to first know how far we're going. So how far are we going that it is too far?

I think the difference in backgrounds is what separates your opinion of healthy from mine. I am healthy because I am in such good shape. Me looking like Brad Pitt sacking Troy is a side effect of that, but it isn't something I've gone out of my way to pursue. If your muscle mass isn't really affected by 2 hours of cardio, I imagine it isn't terribly intense, which is perfectly fine. I run pretty fast, and doing so for an hour plus caused me to start burning away my muscle. So I do more sprints than long distance running now, and I'm better off for it, as I'm still perfectly capable of running long distances. As for cutting and bulking, it isn't something I actually engage in. I eat healthy foods by default, and bulk would only serve to slow me down and affect my cardio and endurance. I'll carbload once a week just to have energy to burn, but that's about as far as that goes. Someone the size of the Hulk would not fair well in the infantry, so most steer clear of that physique. I choose lean, efficient, functional muscle over bulk, as my musculature is based on the needs of my former job, and not aesthetics.

That said, it seems like everyone is assuming I'm in the gym lifting heavy things. Newsflash: I don't like the gym, and I use a limited set of equipment. As I said before, everything you need you already have. Doing some weight lifting most definitely helps, especially since I'm never just carrying my body weight, but I can break anyone off using solely calisthenics more easily than if I were just to have someone lift heavy things, since the latter is completely stationary.

 

[Twigsnapper]

And I agree with you. What you do and I do are two different forms of working out and what we are trying to obtain. Your body, from the military and i'm going to assume natural genes + longer healthier lifestyle, is in a peek condition and you using that to further yourself. Unfortunately for me, my body was not like that for the past 25 years of my life. I was a fat ass that worked out a lot but was unhealthy. For me, at this point, I was starting at a much further "beginning point". On top of that, many of my muscles have been cut and restitched due to the skin reduction. I am unable to do heavy ab workouts like I used to because of the amount of restitching from my surgery. I used to love doing leg lifts and bicycle crunches...I can barely hold them do to the strain. The recent car accident I had has caused lower back damage and further hindered many power lifting exercises. I normally consist now of calisthenics while in recovery. I teach classes at L.A Fitness and that ends up being my cardio. Most of the time it includes calisthenics and helps out with maintaining a higher heart rate.

I'm not aiming for the zeus,thor,titan body...it actually is physically impossible due to the surgeries. I am more focusing on my overall health (Heart) and getting my body back into a work out form that will allow me to do what I want to do. Your way is definitely optimal by proof of how the military works out and having many friends that work out similar to you. I am in no rush to push myself to that and that is the difference.

 

[Zeonix]

And I agree with you. What you do and I do are two different forms of working out and what we are trying to obtain. Your body, from the military and i'm going to assume natural genes + longer healthier lifestyle, is in a peek condition and you using that to further yourself. Unfortunately for me, my body was not like that for the past 25 years of my life. I was a fat ass that worked out a lot but was unhealthy. For me, at this point, I was starting at a much further "beginning point". On top of that, many of my muscles have been cut and restitched due to the skin reduction. I am unable to do heavy ab workouts like I used to because of the amount of restitching from my surgery. I used to love doing leg lifts and bicycle crunches...I can barely hold them do to the strain. The recent car accident I had has caused lower back damage and further hindered many power lifting exercises. I normally consist now of calisthenics while in recovery. I teach classes at L.A Fitness and that ends up being my cardio. Most of the time it includes calisthenics and helps out with maintaining a higher heart rate.

I'm not aiming for the zeus,thor,titan body...it actually is physically impossible due to the surgeries. I am more focusing on my overall health (Heart) and getting my body back into a work out form that will allow me to do what I want to do. Your way is definitely optimal by proof of how the military works out and having many friends that work out similar to you. I am in no rush to push myself to that and that is the difference.

My post wasn't an indictment of you, but an example of how I can exercise pretty much every day without suffering from some kind of terrible degenerative drawback; an idea that seems to have sunken its barbs in the other posters in this thread who believe that training more than thrice a week will result in over training. They say it's common sense, and I say its pure laziness on their part. Obviously if you can't physically push yourself beyond a certain physical threshold for purely medical reasons, you shouldn't. But unless everyone in this thread is suffering from some sort of physical or mental malady, which may very well be the case based on these responses, all I see is a bunch of weak sauce kids walking the marathon because running is too hard.

 

[Twigsnapper]

I get what you are saying and I do agree. It is definitely possible to work out almost everyday without suffering. It is nice to have a day off once in awhile as a complete recoup but that is also a personal thing as well. I get frustrated since I want to work out more than I do but there are serious limitations. After my skin reduction I was tested for low testosterone and to jump start me, was put on testim 1% for 2 months. You want to talk the urge to workout and just lift for days....that was ridiculous.

I will get back up to my old level...but sadly it is going to be a long road. Then again...I paved it with my choices when I was younger...it just going to take me longer to get there.

I figured you weren't questioning my workout methods and reading a lot of the posts, I can see that there may be some (if not a lot) of misinformation being used as facts for some

 

[joca94]

And I agree with you. What you do and I do are two different forms of working out and what we are trying to obtain. Your body, from the military and i'm going to assume natural genes + longer healthier lifestyle, is in a peek condition and you using that to further yourself. Unfortunately for me, my body was not like that for the past 25 years of my life. I was a fat ass that worked out a lot but was unhealthy. For me, at this point, I was starting at a much further "beginning point". On top of that, many of my muscles have been cut and restitched due to the skin reduction. I am unable to do heavy ab workouts like I used to because of the amount of restitching from my surgery. I used to love doing leg lifts and bicycle crunches...I can barely hold them do to the strain. The recent car accident I had has caused lower back damage and further hindered many power lifting exercises. I normally consist now of calisthenics while in recovery. I teach classes at L.A Fitness and that ends up being my cardio. Most of the time it includes calisthenics and helps out with maintaining a higher heart rate.

I'm not aiming for the zeus,thor,titan body...it actually is physically impossible due to the surgeries. I am more focusing on my overall health (Heart) and getting my body back into a work out form that will allow me to do what I want to do. Your way is definitely optimal by proof of how the military works out and having many friends that work out similar to you. I am in no rush to push myself to that and that is the difference.

You need assistant in L.A?
Btw, to teach you guys a lesson, 4 years ago, i was fat ass, i had 85kg, and was arround 160-169cm tall, than i decided to lose weight and be more healthier, i lost 20kg in less than a year, now im 79kg , 180-185cm tall, and i got tiny ammount of fat on my lower abs and lower back, i workout 6-7days a week, and always same workout, but increasing reps, tough as i mentioned, since september i didnt do a single thing. Not to mention that even after i lost weight i couldnt do a single squat, and like 2-3months ago doing 10 squats per rep was uber hard, now i started doing just squats like 2weeks ago, since im lazy ass, and now i can do 40 squats easly. So enough of your chit-chat, its all about hard work, btw, i dont support weight lifting at all, Weighted Vests are great,and girl,friend, but any other type of weights, are not supported by me
Not to mention that last year i could swim over 5km without stoping, barelly getting puffed, at arround 10km or so i had to stop a bit

 

[Twigsnapper]

Joca I work at L.A part time as an added job. I was 200kg, over the last 6 years I lost 101kg. Weight lifting is a great tool to assist your body. To cut it out completely, I would be completely against. At the same time, it depends on what you are trying to do with your body. To be honest...40 squats with no weight isn't hard for me at all. Yes hard work is the key to achieving your goals but at the same time, the knowledge of what/how to workout is also key to increasing your bodies potential.

TLR Never say never when it comes to any form of workout without knowledge of the workout

 

[joca94]

Joca I work at L.A part time as an added job. I was 200kg, over the last 6 years I lost 101kg. Weight lifting is a great tool to assist your body. To cut it out completely, I would be completely against. At the same time, it depends on what you are trying to do with your body. To be honest...40 squats with no weight isn't hard for me at all. Yes hard work is the key to achieving your goals but at the same time, the knowledge of what/how to workout is also key to increasing your bodies potential.

TLR Never say never when it comes to any form of workout without knowledge of the workout

you were fat O_O
But dude, did you ever saw 200kg kid thats like 13-14yo? I was fat ass literaly xD
And about squats, i know 40 squats is pretty low, but since i had knee problems since i was a kid, doing 40 squats is great achievement for me
Next goal is 250 squats at once
And i did use to lift weights a bit when i was losing weight, its awesome way to lose weight, but building flexibile muscles, not so much xD

 

[Zeonix]

I don't know where you guys are getting your information from, but its hilarious. You can lift weights, and still maintain flexibility. You can stick to light weights and increase reps, or you can do yoga (which is what I do) a few times a week to maintain flexibility if you tend to lift heavy.

 

[Twigsnapper]

Zeonix,
Yoga is no joke. My flexibility is still iffy but it has been a great way to improve. I am starting to see what you are saying about peoples thoughts on weight training here. I can only imagine if we started talking diets and eating regime what in the world would be posted haha.

Side note - Freaking sprained my ankle last night teaching a class. Bummed out and popping motrin to keep the swelling to a minimum. These are the type of things that crush me with my momentum

 

[Zeonix]

Zeonix,
Yoga is no joke. My flexibility is still iffy but it has been a great way to improve. I am starting to see what you are saying about peoples thoughts on weight training here. I can only imagine if we started talking diets and eating regime what in the world would be posted haha.

Side note - Freaking sprained my ankle last night teaching a class. Bummed out and popping motrin to keep the swelling to a minimum. These are the type of things that crush me with my momentum

Don't forget about RICE! Rest! Ice! Compression! Elevation!

 

[Brosiris]

I do a 2 on 1 off work out cycle. I do cardio on my rest days. So I go to the gym 7 times a week.

 

[Spunky]

Don't forget about RICE! Rest! Ice! Compression! Elevation!

Also, actual rice is pretty good in your diet, but not fried. I started working out maybe two months ago isolating muscle groups 5 days a week, but the biggest problem I've had is my diet. I drink protein so I have that covered but I can't find the right balance in my diet and I'm not noticing any significant gains. I'm not sure I've actually noticed any gain at all. It's also naturally incredibly hard for me to gain any weight whatsoever, so muscle weight (especially lean muscle) is coming slowly to say the least. Zeo, what's your diet like and on average how much do you spend on food per week?

 

[Zeonix]

For breakfast I usually make something with eggs, between breakfast and lunch I'll eat tuna, for lunch I'll make a big meal involving using beef or poultry, more tuna between then and dinner, and then a light dinner using whatever I see first. If I get bored of those foods, I switch them out with other things. That said, I like various kinds of meat and I eat a lot of it. I also snack a lot. That said, I don't really spend more than 200-250 a month on food. I also take protein to supplement my diet, usually 2 or 3 scoops a day, where one scoop is 24g. Don't base any of what you do on what I do, however, as my life is probably far more active than yours, meaning even when I'm not working out, I'm working out. I need the energy to sustain me, otherwise I'd burn through everything.

Focusing on you, what's your daily diet usually consist of? How much protein powder are you taking (keeping in mind protein powder is meant to supplement your daily protein intake, and not be solely responsible for it)? What does your exercise regiment consist of?

 

[JTM]

I workout at my local 24 Hour Fitness 5 times a week doing a mixup of calisthenics, several variations of weight training and cardio training to keep the muscle confusion stimulated. To abridge a normal day, I start with my cardio (which consists of running on the treadmill for one hour at a pace of 8 miles an hour while occasionally raising or lowering the speed), and then I switch to focusing on a particular muscle group for the session. This system I've adopted tends to drive some negative attention, as people say I'm potentially burning away my progress. Even if that were true, I prefer to stay lean and mean. I have some mass, but I'd rather keep a lower profile in terms of physical size.

 

[Zeonix]

I workout at my local 24 Hour Fitness 5 times a week doing a mixup of calisthenics, several variations of weight training and cardio training to keep the muscle confusion stimulated. To abridge a normal day, I start with my cardio (which consists of running on the treadmill for one hour at a pace of 8 miles an hour while occasionally raising or lowering the speed, and then I switch to focusing on a particular muscle group for the session. This system I've adopted tends to drive some negative attention, as people say I'm potentially burning away my progress. Even if that were true, I prefer to stay lean and mean. I have some mass, but I'd rather keep a lower profile in terms of physical size.

It isn't so much a matter of burning away mass, as it is burning away muscle, lowering your overall strength. I mentioned it earlier, but I'd do 10 miles in an hour and 15 minutes-ish every couple of days, and I could the negative results as far as my strength went weren't worth it. I'll never have to run as far and as fast as I was doing for training, but I'll need my strength and endurance. But if it isn't doing anything to you, big ups. I mostly just sprint a lot now or run a 5k at a slower 19 minute pace (I can do 16 minutes whenever) to get my heart rate up, and then begin my workout.

 

[joca94]

I don't know where you guys are getting your information from, but its hilarious. You can lift weights, and still maintain flexibility. You can stick to light weights and increase reps, or you can do yoga (which is what I do) a few times a week to maintain flexibility if you tend to lift heavy.

i wasnt talking about yoga or fitness or light weights, i meant on bodybuilding, powerlifting etc.
I did yoga few times from P90X, it was pretty cool, but i lost balance many times xD

 

[Zeonix]

Body building isn't the same thing as exercising for physical fitness. Like body building, power lifting is a small niche involving the use of weights. That's why it doesn't make sense to be against weights. You know who used weights? Bruce Lee. You know who else? Basically anyone worth a damn, because its a means to an end, and one useful tool out of many.

 

[joca94]

Body building isn't the same thing as exercising for physical fitness. Like body building, power lifting is a small niche involving the use of weights. That's why it doesn't make sense to be against weights. You know who used weights? Bruce Lee. You know who else? Basically anyone worth a damn, because its a means to an end, and one useful tool out of many.

Bruce Lee didnt use weights O_O
But he did workout all day long, he would do dragon flag for hours, also, he even worked out while watching TV etc.

 

[Zeonix]

Bruce Lee didnt use weights O_O
But he did workout all day long, he would do dragon flag for hours, also, he even worked out while watching TV etc.

You're eliminated from this conversation as you can't even parrot his work out routine. He developed his own weight training routine because, holy shit, being strong is as important as having a skillset.